Course Overview  

 

Problems and Issues in Modern American Society- Term Paper Research (PIMAS-TPR) is a course designed to teach students the basic skills to write well-crafted and rigorous independent research papers.  The culminating project for this course will be an 8-10 page, typed research paper that follows the formatting and style guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA).  Each research project must investigate a problem grounded in one of the four larger topics explored in Problems and Issues in Modern American Society: Educational Inequality, Wealth and Poverty, the Environment, and Violence in America. Students will also be expected to prepare and deliver a 5-10 minute presentation of their research project to be given at the end of the term.

 

Course Expectations

 

Given the large amount of work that there is to do for this course and the relatively short amount of time that there is to do it in, it is crucial that each student approach this course very seriously, meet all of the submission deadlines, and work independently both in and outside of the classroom.  During much of our class time, students will be gathering research from the online database ProQuest and preparing drafts of their work. Each week students will also take turns sharing their work and receiving critical feedback from their peers and the teaching staff. All assignments must also contain a works cited page listing all the sources cited within the document.
 

Drafts and Due Dates

 

With the exception of the final paper, due dates for work is typically on Monday (unless otherwise noted below). The due dates for the different parts of your papers are as follows*:

 

Research Proposal/Prospectus                                                                      July 6, 2020

Introduction                                                                                                      July 13, 2020

Sub-Section 1                                                                                                    July 20, 2020

Sub-Section 2                                                                                                    July 28, 2020 (Tuesday)

Sub-Section 3                                                                                                    August 3, 2020

Conclusion                                                                                                        August  6, 2020 (Thursday)

PIMAS TPR Academic Conference                                                                 August 7,10 &11, 2020

FINAL PAPER                                                                                                   August 12, 2020 (Wednesday)

 

* Failure to submit work on time will result in an unprepared and the deduction of a full letter grade from the assignment for each day it is late.